Friends of a 15-year-old boy stabbed to death as he cycled in north London today called on young people to “stop the killing” and lay down their knives.

Another Country, Minerva - theatre review

In this revival of Julian Mitchell’s play, which is set in the grindingly masculine world of an English public school in the Thirties, Rob Callender plays quixotic, infuriating and captivating "Cambridge spy" Guy Bennett

Kenneth Branagh, Rupert Everett, Colin Firth and Daniel Day-Lewis all made names for themselves very early in their careers by taking juicy starring roles in Another Country (1981). This revival of Julian Mitchell's fascinating fictionalised look at the public-school life of "Cambridge spy" Guy Burgess, recast here as Guy Bennett, and Communist John Cornford, now Tommy Judd, is likely to prove a similarly efficacious launch-pad for new drama school graduate Rob Callender, all cheekbones and attitude in the Bennett/Burgess role.

Mitchell conjures with skill the hide-bound, rule-bound, grindingly masculine — not a woman on stage all night — world of an English public school in the Thirties. What is most startling is the double-speak attitude towards homosexual practices among the boys: almost everyone knows they go on, the majority indulge, but no one will talk of them. Bennett, a quixotic, infuriating, captivating creature caught splendidly by the exuberant Callender, breaks this suffocating code of honour by expressing his desires publicly. He bonds with Judd (Will Attenborough, solidly impressive), perpetually interrupted in his quest to read Das Kapital, over their robustly assumed outsider status.

Jeremy Herrin's production starts evocatively, and ironically, with the boys emerging through the gloaming singing I Vow to Thee, My Country. 21st century sensibilities — not to mention hairstyles — occasionally peek through in the boys' interactions, although what is confidently conveyed is the overwhelming sense of loyalty they feel towards their school houses and position as prefects.

There's strong support from Bill Milner as a cripplingly anxious younger boy, fretting about the temperature of water and muffins, and also from the small bust of Lenin with a knotted hanky on its head.